and download the first one the list (click the floppy disk icon to download). It's a No-CD patch and XP fix for the game. (There's nothing illegal about a no-cd patch if you legitimately own the game, btw)

Be sure to follow the instructions in the NoCD text file included. There are some non-obvious steps to take if the game still doesn't work quite right. I had some problems, but after following the instructions, it started working.

NOTE: Using this download, you do not have to and in fact cannot use compatibility mode for it to work properly. I made the mistake of using it, and the menu was all slow and stupid until I undid it and realized it was working fine.

Now, the gameplay and the menu both worth at the correct speed, when I thought I would be doomed to either slow menus, fast gameplay, or no game at all.

Unfortunately, it crashes after every mission, but it saves fine before then, you just have to restart after each mission. Also, the camera dropping back bug happens, but using any other camera view solves the problem. (I like the cockpit view myself, but the close behind view works too. Pressing F8 or F1 (respectively) will switch you to those views).

I haven't to encountered the no-respawn bug, which is good, because that's a dealbreaker for me.

Other than those problems, everything works smoothly, and honestly, I'm happy to just get the gameplay working right. So there are those two above problems, but the gameplay is unobstructed, so I thought I'd share my successful method.